Off Camera
by Charmingly Gorgeous
Summary: [HarmxMac]Colonel Mackenzie stuck her jaw to the side to show her annoyance at the fact that her boss was just ordering her to play babysitter to five actors.
1. David Meets Harm

**Note: Before you read this story, just so I don't get any flames, or people telling me what I already know here:**

**I know that Catherine Bell wasn't a main character in the first season. But I chose to ignore that, and just choose to have Catherine Bell in it, because it worked with the story line. **

**Another thing, is obviously I don't know the actors, but I have done my 2 days of research, looking up every bio I could find on all the actors. I'm just working off that, so if you have a problem with my portrayal of one of the characters, please tell me, but don't make it into a flame. Thank you. **

* * *

"Commander, Colonel, I don't like this situation anymore than you do. The last thing we need around here are some actors running around taking notes, and asking dumb questions." Admiral Chedwiggen sighed, as he folded his strong hands together over his desk. He leaned forward, his suit crinkling around his shoulders, as his blue eyes studied the best of his staff who stood in front of him, two of which who looked as if their day had just been completely ruined.

Colonel Mackenzie stuck her jaw to the side to show her annoyance at the fact that her boss was just ordering her to play babysitter to five actors, because the Secretary of the Navy wants the Navy to be portrayed well on some crappy crime/law drama. Her hands were clenching and unclenching behind her back, as she glanced her deep brown eyes over at Commander Rabb, whose ice blue eyes were dancing playfully, almost as if he was looking forward to this encounter with the actors. At this point, Mac frowned at him as if he was crazy. He gave her his mischievous smile, before turning back to the Admiral, ready to say something.

"Sir, I'm not sure if we could pull this off – having to show five actors around JAG and how we do what we do _and _still carry on our workload."

The Admiral nodded. "Yes, that's been thought through, Rabb, don't you worry. Your case loads have already been given off to others, and you've been given lighter cases." He raised his eyebrows to show how serious he was attempting to bring this matter across to them. "I expect you to be very, _very_, co-operative with these people." His eyes wandered over to the corner where the other two members of the best of his staff stood, one of them looking extremely excited.

And she should be – Lt. Harriet Simms was one of those people who loved celebrities, or just people in general, a quality she had shown off when she was in charge of a Christmas concert for the soldiers overseas during the holidays. Her girl-next-door features were bright and glowing as she smiled her infectious and wonderful smile. Her deep baby blue eyes glanced over at her husband, who shifted nervously at the thought of meeting real, live, actors. Lt. Commander Bud Roberts stared at the Admiral's desk in front of him, not sure of how to take this news. He was going to have to show people how to do his job, how to make it look like he - or she, he thought nervously – had been doing the job for years. His brown eyes wandered over to his wife, as he gave her a fake smile.

The Admiral could tell what Bud was thinking, and inwardly he smiled and gave a small chuckle at him. Trust Bud to be the one worried about how he was going to come off to five spoiled rotten actors.

Before anyone could say anything more, a gentle knock came through the red wooden door, and all heads turned towards it. "Enter." The Admiral replied, although he already knew who it was and why they were bothering him.

Petty Officer Jennifer Coates entered the room. She had fresh, pretty face, shown off by her light brown hair that was pulled back into a twist. She gave everyone a nod, before turning back to the Admiral, a sparkle in her brown eyes. "Sir, the Secretary of the Navy is on line one."

The Admiral sighed, and looked up reluctantly at the four. "Do _not_ get on their nerves – they will call the Secretary, and he will have all of your jobs. Dismissed." A chorus of 'Aye sir's rang through, as they all exited through the red wooden door, as the Admiral picked up the phone, and put on a false voice of joy, "Hello Mr. Secretary, what can I do for you?"

"Sir?" Jennifer Coates stopped Harm from walking out of her office with the others. He turned and gave her a smile.

"Yes Jen?"

Jennifer smiled back. "David James Elliot is in your office waiting for you. He came a little earlier than the others."

Harm nodded his head. "Ah, David James Elliot… triathlon runner, right?"

"Yes sir." She confirmed.

Harm continued to nod his head, as he walked out the door backwards, giving Jen a comical look, as if he was nervous to meet him. He made his way to his office, watching Mac enter hers with longing eyes. If only… if only what? If only they hadn't known each other so long? No, that would only bring them closer. If only they didn't work together? A problem, but they could get over it – Harriet and Bud did. Harm had finally run out of buts and 'if onlys'. The only thing left is the feeling of his heart in his throat when he talked to Mac, and the need to be with her when they're apart. He turned the doorknob of his own office, and walked into the room.

David James Elliot was tall. He had the body of a triathlon athlete – strong arms and legs, as well as a muscular chest. Light brown hair, and sparkling blue eyes, he looked like a man who Harm could get along with.

Hopefully.

"You must be Mr. Elliot." Harm said, offering the actor his hand.

David smiled, shaking Harm's offered had. "Call me David. So you're the famous Harmon Rabb." David gave Harm a friendly smirk, as he turned with him around the desk.

Harm sunk down into his chair, with a cocky smile. "You can call me Harm."

David let out a laugh, as he sat down into the chair across from Harm. He leaned forward, and leaned on his knees. "Well, I guess you already know why I'm here."

Harm nodded. "You're going to follow me, and pick at my brain as well as how I do my job and why things happen the way they do."

David smiled. "I think we're going to get along just fine."

* * *

"Ma'am, here are your new case files." Harriet shut the door behind herself, and made her way over to the desk with the small pile of files in her hand.

Mac stood up, and took the files from her best friend, and sat them down at her desk. Sighing, she went through the first case file. Great - a week full of noting but boring misdemeanours. No trips to an aircraft carrier – no going anywhere, except her office and the courthouse. She rested her elbow on her desk, and rubbed her head. This is not what she had expected when she came in this morning. She was ready, in a good mood because she had been winning most of her cases, and then – bam! Her boss hits her with a actress following her six everywhere she went, asking the most obvious questions.

"Are you okay ma'am?"

Mac looked up at Harriet's naturally motherly face. O what she would give to be in Harriet's shoes – a wonderful husband, 2 beautiful children… all she had to look forward to when she went home, was cold, week old Chinese take-out food lurking in the back of her fridge. So she slapped a fake, worn-out smile on her face, and replied, "Yea, I'm just not looking forward to a week of having a spoiled, whiney actress following me around."

Harriet gave her a sympathetic smile, as she took a seat. "O ma'am, don't worry about it. Not all actresses are whiney and… okay, maybe they're all spoiled," Harriet laughed at Mac's expression, "but some are still down-to-earth."

"Well, hopefully you're right, and we won't get stick with one who's the exact opposite of what you described." Mac gave her a hopeful smile.

Harriet stood up to leave, and turned at the door. "You know ma'am, you shouldn't always go right for the worst in people, or the worst outcome in a situation like that. Try to look on the bright side of things." She gave Mac a bright smile before leaving the office.

Mac sighed as the door closed, at her small, thin pile of cases. This was going to be crap. She reached over and yanked open her right desk drawer, watching as everything slid to the front of the drawer. A smile hovered on her lips, as she let go of the handle of the drawer, and gently lifted a picture in a small frame. It was of her, Harm and his plane. Her heart fluttered at the sight of his smiling face. Slowly, she set the frame down, and grabbed the pen that she had wanted to get in the first place from the drawer, and shut it. She needed to just let go of her feelings towards him, because they were just friends and always would be. Besides, it would never work; she fed herself as she started on another pile of paperwork that needed to be signed. They were too…. What? Similar? Different? No, they seemed to have the perfect combination. She shook her head at herself.

_Just let it go, Mac. _She told herself, as she slowly signed her name at the bottom of the paper. _Just let it go_.


	2. Karri Meets Harriet

**A/N: Someone pointed out that I had the wrong eye colour - omg! you really cannot trust websites. I thought that they were wrong, but I wasn't postitive so I stuck with it. Wrong choice I guess :P But thanks to whoever it was - you were really nice about it! Mwah! **

* * *

"Apparently navy guys are really sexy."

"Karri!"

"Oh Cat, calm down." Karri Turner looked up at her friend with big blue eyes. The elevator shook slightly, as it pulled to a stop. Karri stepped off, flicking her blonde hair and smiling as young men passed the two women longingly. Karri let out a giggle, as she linked arm in arm with her friend, Catherine Bell, and began to walk down the hall towards what looked and sounded to be the main office.

"Karri, you are such a flirt," Catherine replied, rolling her chocolate brown eyes at her friend. She smiled down, the height difference between the two women wasn't too much, but enough for Catherine to be able to look down on Karri. Catherine tucked a piece of her long brown hair behind her ear, as she blushed at the men who were gawking at her.

"She's married." There was another man with them – Patrick Labyorteaux. He snipped at the man who tried to walk up to Catherine with a dazed look in his eye. Patrick turned back to his two friends, replacing the serious look with a gentle smile.

Catherine grinned at him. "I can take care of myself, you know," she informed him.

Patrick shrugged, "It makes me feel important. Besides, Adam asked me to make sure you weren't seduced by any navy men." He joked.

Karri nodded, "See, even your husband knows that navy men are sexy." She pointed out, as they entered what looked like the main office of the floor.

There were navy personnel all over the place, looking extremely busy. Files were being dropped, people were expertly avoiding others, and names were calling people towards their superiors. It was amazing to these three actors, how these people worked together, and just knew how the other would react, so they could counteract their own path to their own destination. Catherine stared in wonder at the buzzing office, before turning to her friends asking, "Do you think we'll be able to pull this off?"

Before either Karri or Patrick could answer, a young woman came up to them with a file in her hand, and a smile on her face. Her blonde hair was cut short, and tucked behind her ears, and she looked up with sparkling blue eyes. "Can I help you with anything? Show you to an office?" She asked.

Immediately Catherine could tell that Karri clicked with this woman. Karri smiled back, and replied, "Yea, can you show us where – wait." She looked up at Catherine. "Are we supposed to go to the Admiral's office, or just straight to our escorts?"

Patrick stepped closer to the women. "Don said he wanted us to just go straight to our escorts – John's escort's going to be the Admiral, so he'll sign us in while he's there."

Karri nodded, and turned back to the woman. "Well, in that case, could you show us to… Colonel Mackenzie for Cat, Lt. Roberts for Patrick, and Lt. Simms for me please?" She recited from the names from memory, ticking off each name on her finger as she said them.

The woman's smile widened, and they could tell she could barely contain herself. "You're the actors!" They all gave her a nod, smiling that she knew who they were. "I'm Lt. Simms, but you can call me Harriet."

Karri squealed. "I'm Karri Turner – you're my escort!"

Harriet laughed with her, until Patrick cleared his throat, slightly embarrassed. Karri turned to him. "O, be quiet you." Karri turned back to Harriet, quickly. "His escort's Lt. Roberts. We'd better drop him off first, before he gets all antsy." She grinned.

Patrick rolled his eyes at her, before turning to Harriet. "Please drop me off first."

Harriet laughed. "Sure. Actually," she started to lead the three over to his office. "Bud's my husband." She smiled proudly.

Catherine followed her, but kept her eye on the bubbling office in wonder. The voices and phones ringing faded in together, before all together becoming silent. Her mouth open slightly, she decided that she had found a new respect for these people, and the way they work. Maybe, just maybe, they would be able to pull-

"Ow." Catherine straightened herself up, after having walked into the stopped Lt. Simms.

Harriet turned back, and smiled at her, as Catherine blushed deeply. "Sorry – I wasn't paying attention."

"Well, obviously Catherine." Karri winked at her, as she looked back. Catherine sent her a friendly glare, which Karri returned by sticking her tongue out playfully.

Catherine turned her attention, shaking her head at her friend, back to the reason they were stopped. A young man was frowning at her. He must have realized that Catherine had caught him, because he blushed a deep red, and his eyes darted to Harriet. He was holding a file in his hand, and Catherine could tell immediately by the way he was looking at Harriet, that this was Lt. Roberts.

Well, that and the name tag on his uniform.

"Harriet, I think we got our files mixed up." He said, smiling and offering her his file.

Harriet frowned and opened her file. She nodded in agreement, taking the file away from Bud, and giving him her file. "Thanks Bud. O, since we're here, Bud," She turned to Patrick with a smile. "this is…."

Patrick jumped in with his name, having not given it to Harriet. "Patrick Labyorteaux"

Harriet smiled. "Patrick Labyorteaux. Patrick, this is Bud, your escort."

Bud's expression just dropped, and everyone could tell that he was nervous. Catherine bit her lip to stop from laughing out, because of how red Bud's face was getting. Patrick played it very cool though, offering Bud his hand. They shook hands, before a silence came over them, an awkward silence. Harriet rushed right in though.

"Well, Bud, why don't you show him your office and case files, while I take…"

Catherine had managed to gain control of herself, before giving Harriet a sweet smile. "Catherine Bell."

Harriet smiled back at her. "Catherine, to Colonel Mackenzie's office."

Bud seemed to look relieved to know what he was doing now. He turned his full attention back to Patrick. "If you want to follow me…"

"Sure." Patrick said, obviously glad to be out of the awkward silence.

Catherine couldn't help let out a giggle, as they walked away towards Bud's office. Both Karri and Harriet turned around to face her, both with smiles on their faces. "Um, this way is Colonel Mackenzie's office." Harriet said, letting out a laugh, as they walked towards Mac's office.

"So, what's Colonel Mackenzie like? I asked one of the men down on the first floor, and he said, and I quote," Catherine let out another laugh, before quoting the young man, " 'she's hot, but a total hard ass'."

Harriet also laughed at this. "Well, Mac can be like that… but once you get to know her, she's really very nice. Just… don't suck up to her, or ask really dumb questions," Harriet warned her.

Catherine nodded, as all three stopped at the wooden door. "Is this my stop?" she asked, turning to Harriet. After a nod from Harriet, Catherine straightened her blouse. "Okay, time to go in." she said, more to herself than anyone, and she brought her hand up to knock on the wooden door.


End file.
